ImmortaliTEA wrote:Wow that's a nice Ba Le you have there. Which clay and size is this one?

Thanks, Imm, it's a recent acquisition that I'm currently testing. It holds about 85 mL and is a pretty smooth mou luni clay (the mix is smoother than the smaller pot I posted a few back; that is, the yellow bits are tinier, more homogenous). It has the usual 4-character "Made in Yixing" on the bottom of the pot, and the mark "水平" under the lid.

Yesterday I had the shui LAN yin 7542 that was recently available at houde. I honestly was not blown away by this tea. It had a strong qi for a tea of this age though. But it stopped being really interesting after five infusions. another example of a noted tea not really standing out to much.I wonder exactly how long these samples have been sealed in there packaging? That might explain allot. The other half of my sample I think that I will give it more time to breath maybe a couple weeks before brewing.

The Shui Lan Yin is one of the teas that have consistently done well in taste testing. I could simply be that this tea does better in that scenario than any genuine home sipping. I mean, the first few brews of the 80's 8653 was not really all that impressive in taste, compared to something like the Purple Dayi, but boy oh boy it sure kept on brewing great brews like a master tortoise...

MarshalN has also said, way back when, that the Lan Yin didn't last very long, and it seems that a rest period did great thing for Hobbe's try at it...

HouDe 88 Qing Bing 10g in 100ml pot.Had great results with this sample.

Whoever bought some scored. There were similarities to Nada's 88 QB sample #2 which I reviewed. However, Guang's was more complex, robust and qi filled. It has been surprisingly flexible with brew times. It took pushing quite well on day two and still made noce shorter brews.

The 20g pack had quite a bit of fannings. To HouDe's credit, they refunded half without me even asking. What a class act! Thank you!

80s sun Yi shun lui an. I finally found a local (-ish) store that sells volvic. The water is definetly high quality. The tea is really good as well. A nice cooling after taste. I really lik a lui an with a couple years on it.

Today I enjoyed a sample give to me by a teafriend:'1990 Menghai Sheng' was all the information he got when buying a part of a bing.

Seems to have had some wet storage in its youth - there are some wee traces of basement taste in early infusions. But mostly it is old books, antique furniture, some dark fruit and a generous helping of camphor. And then comes the huigan - as if the back of my tongue got coated with honey.

Whatever it was exactly, I am happy I received a generous sample which is good enough for three session.

Spent yesterday enjoying some 1970s Tong Qing Hao, courtesy of GN (many thanks!). Kept steeping it through today, I think this is number 20 or so, enjoying a view of Mt. Fuji while sipping. Of course it was cloudy when I took the photo, and now it's sunny. Good timing on my part.

Spent yesterday enjoying some 1970s Tong Qing Hao, courtesy of GN (many thanks!). Kept steeping it through today, I think this is number 20 or so, enjoying a view of Mt. Fuji while sipping. Of course it was cloudy when I took the photo, and now it's sunny. Good timing on my part.

Wish I could join you. 70s Tong Qing Hao is really a treasure and it looks good after 20 brews.

The one I posted earlier is a 93 Tong Qing Hau recipe made by Chi Tze in Yuen Nien, collected then, down to my last piece, 20 years in sealed dry storage and nicely aged....only can afford to savour once a year.

Yesterday I finally got to try the 1996 Truly Simply Elegant cake. This was a cake made by a colaberation between a Taiwanese tea merchant and one of the last surviving tea makers from the famed Song pin hao factory. The cake is made from ancient tea trees from lui shui dong and MaHei. The trees where supposedly unplucked for forty years. The tea lives up to its name being extremely pure and clean in flavor mouthfeel and cha qi. The cha qi was the highlight bringing about a extraordinary sense of clarity. It's downfall is that in its simplicity it lacks any sort of ku Wei and depth of other blended teas.

Today I has the 80s menghai brick from The Mandarins tea room. This brick is a blend of sheng and shu. The first infusion had me disappointed as it carried a oily tobacco flavor that I have sometimes found in older shu from HK that I am not the biggest fan of. But infusion two the tea,opened up and the components of the blend evened out causing the tea to be more balanced. The interplay between raw and cooked adds some interesting flavor combos. The qi is appearent and radiates from the chest to my forearms. I am still only on infusion four. So this tea is just getting started, it will be interesting to see how the blend of sheng and shu progresses in later infusions

I don't really expect big tree tea to be very bitter (and didn't like the fact that my tries of the '99 Dadugang and '98 Evening Fragrant Jade featured some bitterness), so are you saying that the particular cake doesn't have huigans or throatfeel?

I re read what I posted I dont know why i wrote downfall. I should have said only real shortcoming.This cake excels in areas of mouth/throat feel &huigan. But I believe blending this with some menghai area tea of a similar quality would make maybe the perfect tea. As this tea like the name says is simple. Alot of the older Yi wus that I have had while they have nice qi and great mouthfeel and aftertaste but they tend to be a little to tame. That is why almost every whole tong of tea I have for future consumption/ageing is a blend.

You make me think that the Zhenchunya is a lot like the '99 Song Charactered Changtai, only better. I like that sort of tea, but I like the '01 XZH Mengsa better--much more intense. Then again, I'm inclined to agree with MarshalN on the virtues of aging Mahei.